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I think so long as you aren’t planning on watching this one with your ‘rents, you’re probably fine going in cold

*or your partner... I've been continually propositioned to watch this for a date night lately (by someone who likes fucked-up horror and is eager to watch) but that's not gonna put anyone in a good mood for anything. I had an unexpected physiological response after my first viewing, though I adore the film and have watched it at least a handful of times since

The other main thing to probably be aware of is Von Trier's love of Dreyer and Tarkovsky which has always been there (especially in his early hyper-stylised Europe trilogy or suffering 'heroines' of his Dogme films and Dogville/Manderlay) but really becomes impossible to ignore in the films from Antichrist onwards.

Also the theme of people manufacturing (or bringing into being through intense desire for it to be so) their own downfalls in some ways, along with the general character of flawed intellectuals in the face of primal, inexplicable forces of nature and/or Acts of God. Which is still sort of in the Dreyer or Tarkovsky vein too.

Antichrist is one of those films that if you put ten people in a room who have seen it and ask for their opinion you'll get ten different answers. Some of my favorite memories ever are when this film came out and people went absolutely apeshit over it.

That being said I think it's a really horrifying if ghoulish depiction of depression and grief.

This movie is amazing, and a complete masterpiece.
However, I don't think I will ever be able to watch it again.

Honesty, best advice is to probably watch something else first. It’s such a tonal oddity that some context might help.